Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AIM:
To study different types of building forms which resists damages caused by an earthquake.
HYPOTHESIS:
"EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT BUILDING FORMS HELPS TO IMPROVES THE
STABILITY OF THE BUILDING STRUCTURE AND CAUSES LESS DAMAGE AND
ENSURE BETTER LIVING"
OBJECTIVES:
To study the various earthquake zones in rajasthan (zone-4, zone-3, zone-2) and to
formulate various design guidelines related to forms and geometrical arrangement of
building elements for a better earthquake resistant structure.
To analyze the various geometrical forms, which resists damage to buildings when an
earthquake occurs.
To analyze the need of symmetrical arrangements of building forms for better stability.
SCOPE:
To identify the best suitable geometrical forms which resist damages caused by an
earthquake.
This study helps architects and engineers, in developing building forms which are better
in resisting earthquakes.
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NEED OF STUDY:
The main aim behind the selection of this topic is to study the various building forms/
geometrical form which resist less damage to building structure and ensure better living.
According to the BSI 2002, the earthquake is repeatedly taking place in least active zones and
hence the consequences for the same are required to be taken.
List of earthquakes in rajasthan in last 20 years:-
Government Of Rajasthan
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METHODOLOGY :
Hypothesis
Objectives
Aim
Literature Study
Primary Study
Secondary Study
Collection of Data
Cross Classification Analysis
Outcomes
Conclusion
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INTRODUCTION TO EARTHQUAKE:
Earthquakes occur due to slippage of rocks in the earth's crust or in the upper part of the mantle,
Consequent to these sudden movements strong vibrations occur on the ground in a short span of
time. The tremendous amount of energy suddenly releasing during an earthquake which
accumulates slowly due to geological process.
According to the elastic rebound theory, energy is stored in the rocks up to the elastic limit may
be for hundreds or thousands of years. Eventually the rocks snap or rupture at the weakest point,
relieving the enormous strains built up over the years. This stored up energy is released in the
form of seismic waves, which radiate outward from the point where the rocks are fractured.
Earthquakes are identified by their location (Longitude and Latitude), depth of the focus and the
energy released/size of the earthquakes. The most common measures of the size of the
earthquakes are magnitude and intensity.
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Definitions
Focus Point
Origin point of the earthquake lying below the earth's surface is known as Focus Point of the
earthquake, where slip starts.
Epicentre
The point just vertically above the focus on the earth surface is known as the Epicentre.
P-Waves
These waves are Primary waves which are fastest among all the waves and generally travel with
a speed between 6 to 14 km per second inside the earth. The speed of the waves remains
unaffected when passing through solid sections of the earth but slow down when passing through
liquid portions. These are longitudinal waves and create a "Push-pull" effect on rock mass like
sound waves.
S-Waves
These waves are Secondary or Shear waves and also travel inside the earth at speeds of 0.58
times that of P wave (generally 3 to 8 km per second). These waves travel easily through solid
sections but loose their identity when passing through liquid portions. These waves are
transverse waves and cause earth to move at right angles to the direction of the wave. These
wave are of most destructive nature.
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L (Surface) Waves
These waves are love waves and always travel near the surface of the earth and travel at a speed
of 0.9 times that of S wave (3 to 5 km per second). These waves in association with s-wave also
cause maximum damage.
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Magnitude
The intensity is the effect of earthquake on the ground and the objects in the affected area. It is
assigned on the basis of damage that depends upon the magnitude, depth of focus, distance from
the epicentre and the ground condition. It varies from place to place. It is given on grade I to XII
on Modified Mercalli (MM) or Medvedev - Sponheaer - Karnik (MSK) scale.
Tectonic plates
Tectonic plates are made of elastic but brittle rocky material. And so, elastic strain energy is
stored in them during the relative deformations that occur due to the gigantic tectonic plate
actions taking place in the Earth. But, when the rocky material along the interface of the plates in
the Earths Crust reaches its strength, it fractures and a sudden movement takes place there (the
interface between the plates where the movement has taken place (called the fault) suddenly slips
and releases the large elastic strain energy stored in the rocks at the interface. For example, the
energy released during the 2001 Bhuj (India) earthquake is about 400 times (or more) that
released by the 1945 Atom Bomb dropped on Hiroshima!!
Source: http;/geo.utep.edu.com
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Place
Density
Dec, 2012
Jaipur
3.6 magnitude
2 years ago
Daosa
4.0 magnitude
4 years ago
Sadri
4.6 magnitude
5 years ago
Jaisalmer
5.1 magnitude
8years ago
Basi
4.2 magnitude
8 years ago
Govindgarh
4.0 magnitude
11 years ago
Chomu
4.5 magnitude
12 years ago
Nim ka thana
4.1 magnitude
16 years ago
Phalodi
3.5 magnitude
18 years ago
Pokaran
5.2 magnitune
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Earthquake are qualitatively classified by the destruction they cause. Generally earthquakes of
magnitude greater than 5 only cause damages while the magnitude of major earthquake is 7 or
more. A qualitative classification of earthquakes can be seen in the table below.
Magnitude (M)
Classification
Annual
frequency
occurrence
M8
Great Earthquake
M7 and <8
Major Earthquake
18
M6 and <7
Strong Earthquake
120
M5 and <6
Moderate Earthquake
800
M4 and <5
Light Earthquake
6200 (estimated)
Minor Earthquake
49000 (estimated)
M<3
M2-3:~ 1000/day
of
M1-2:~ 8000/day
Source: Disaster management and Relief department, Govt. of Rajasthan
In the picture above, we can see highlighted seismic areas, with blue triangles, the most
important volcanoes and with black lines the plates boundaries.
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An earthquake has phases and parts. The earths plates are constantly moving away from each
other, collide or slide one under the other. At shallower levels, where the rock is less elastic and
prevents movement, energy builds up until it reaches a saturation point and is suddenly released,
causing an earthquake or a tremor.
The precise point where it begins to release energy is the focus or hypocenter of the earthquake.
The point on the earths surface directly above the focus is the epicentre. Usually thats the point
with the highest damage. After a great earthquake, the rocks of the area around the outbreak
continue to move as they adjust to new positions, causing a lot of earthquakes known as
aftershocks.
The energy released by an earthquake is transmitted at high speed in all directions through the
surrounding rocks. Like another type of energy, it spreads through waves. In this case, they are
called seismic waves.
Source : http;/geo.utep.edu.com
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Scales
There are two ways to measure the force of the earthquakes. One of the scales is called Mercalli
scale and the other is Ritcher scale.
The Mercalli Scale is a scale of 12 degrees developed to assess the intensity of earthquakes
through the effects and damage to various structures. It was named after Italian physicist
Giuseppe Mercalli. Low levels of the scale are associated with how people feel the tremor, while
higher grades are associated with structural damage observed.
The levels are:
1-Instrumental, 2-Weak, 3-Slight, 4-Moderate, 5-Rather Strong, 6-Strong, 7-Very Strong, 8Destructive, 9-Violent, 10-Intense, 11-Extreme, 12-Cataclysmic.
The seismic scale of Richter, also known as local magnitude scale, is an arbitrary logarithmic
scale that assigns a number to quantify the energy released in an earthquake, named in honour of
the American seismologist Charles Richter. The measurement is performed using data supplied
by seismographs, instruments to measure surface energy waves. The levels are: Less than 2.0
Micro, 2.0-3.9 Minor, 4.0-4.9 Light, 5.0-5.9 Moderate, 6.0-6.9 Strong, 7.07.9 Major, 8.0-9.9 Great, +10.0 Massive.
Modified Mercalli Scale:
The Mercalli scale modified by American scientists describes the effects of the earthquake as given in the
table below:
Class of Earth
quakes
Description
II
Felt only by few person at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings and
delicately suspended objects may swing.
III
Felt quite noticeably indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings but many
people do not recognize it as an earthquake; standing motorcars may rock
slightly. Vibration may be felt like passing of a truck.
IV
During the day felt indoors by many, outdoors by a few; at night some are
awakened; dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound;
sensation like heavy truck striking the building; and standing motor cars
rocked visibly.
Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened; some dishes, windows etc. broken;
a few instances of cracked plaster; unstable objects overturned; disturbance of
trees, poles, and other tall objects noticed and pendulum clocks may stop.
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VI
Felt by all; many frightened and run outdoors; some heavy furniture moved; a
few instances of fallen plaster or damaged chimneys and damage slight.
VII
VIII
IX
Some well built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and framed
structures with foundations destroyed; ground badly cracked. Rails bent.
Landslides. Shifted sand and mud; water splashed over banks.
XI
XII
Total damage; waves seen on ground surface; objects thrown upward into the
air.
Source: Disaster management and Relief department, Govt. of Rajasthan
Effects :The effects of an earthquake can be many different, some example are explained below.
Movement and ground rupture.
They are the main effects of an earthquake on the Earths surface due to friction of tectonic
plates, causing damage to buildings or structures that are rigid in the area affected by the
earthquake. Damage to buildings depends on the intensity of de movements, the distance
between the structure and the epicenter and the geological and geomorphologic conditions that
enable better wave propagation.
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TSUNAMI:
Tsunamis are huge ocean waves that travel large amount of water moving towards the coast. In
the open sea the distance between the crest of the waves are close to 100 km. The periods range
from five minutes to an hour. According to depth of water, tsunamis can travel at speed of 600 to
800 km/h. They can travel long distances across the ocean, from one continent to another.
OTHER EFFECTS:
Land slides, Liquification, fire.
Even when a building designed and constructed to meet all the requirements required by the
rules of earthquake resistant design and construction, there is always the possibility of an
earthquake even stronger than they have been provided and must be resisted by building without
damage occurring.
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In tall buildings with large height-to-base size ratio, the horizontal movement of the floors during
ground shaking is large. In short but very long buildings, the damaging effects during earthquake
shaking are many. And, in buildings with large plan area like warehouses, the horizontal seismic
forces can be excessive to be carried by columns and walls.
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Figure 11: Buildings have unequal vertical members; they cause the building to twist about a vertical axis
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resistant features. Destruction and partial collapse of buildings (falling from ceilings, walls,
partitions,balconies, exterior walls, cracks in walls, etc). Fires caused by a short, exhaust gas and
flammable materials. Flooding from broken dams, water pipes, etc.
,
tiles, pots, etc. Fall of broken glass and ceramic tiling, especially dangerous when they fall from
upper floors. Fall of furniture, hanging objects, etc.
and installations. Partial damage to the roads (roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, etc) due to
settlements landslides and mudslides. Fall of utility poles and power lines.
Pounding can occur between adjoining buildings due to horizontal vibrations of the two
buildings.
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As per the BMPTC Atlas the State of Rajasthan State falls under earthquake zones II, III and IV.
Some area of Districts of Jalore, Sirohi, Barmer and Alwar districts fall in zone IV where as
many parts of Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Pali, Sirohi, Dungarpur, Alwar, Banswara,
fall in zone III. A table showing zones and likelihood of earthquakes of different intensity and
magnitude is shown below.
S.
Seismic Zone
Intensity
MSK
Magnitude
District
IV [High Damage
Risk Zone]
VII-VIII
6.0 - 6.9
III
[Moderate VI-VII
Damage Risk Zone]
5.0 - 5.9
4.0 - 4.0
No.
The earthquake of Kutch in 2001 was felt in many parts of Rajasthan as well. Its effect was felt
more severely in the Western District namely Jalore, Barmer and Jaisalmer. Many buildings in
these districts like schools, rest houses and privately owned buildings had developed huge cracks
and had been rendered unsafe. Many other buildings developed cracks making them unsafe for
further use without proper retrofitting. Many of the public buildings mainly schools are still lying
in dilapidated conditions.
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The Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, India occurred on the 26 January 2001 and caused massive
destruction to property and loss of life. This earthquake had a moment magnitude Mw = 7.9
USGS and struck the Kutch region of India at 8.46am local time, with the shaking lasting for a
few minutes. Kutch has a population of about 1.3 million people. Other major cities in Gujarat eg
Ahmedabad and Jamnagar, which are hundreds of kilometres away, were also effected by the
earthquake.
In Kutch, major towns such as Bhuj (pop 150,000), Anjar (pop 50,000), Bhachau (pop 40,000),
and Rapar (pop 25,000) were almost totally destroyed and many villages surrounding these
towns were badly damaged. To date over 20,000 persons are reported dead and over 167,000
injured, predominantly from the Kutch region. The reported deaths will increase as towns are
cleared, an operation which will take many years.
Most people were killed or badly injured because of:
a) poorly constructed buildings either totally or partially collapsing
b) walls collapsing within narrow streets, burying people escaping into them
c) untied roofs and cantilevers falling onto people
d) free standing high boundary walls, parapets and balconies falling due to the severe shaking
e) gable walls falling over
f) the failure of modern reinforced structures with large open spaces at ground to first floor level,
for example garage or shop spaces, collapsing and burying occupants (soft storey collapses)
g) inhabitants not knowing how to respond to the shaking and collapse of walls around them.
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Generally, commercial buildings were worst affected by the earthquake because of poor
workmanship, use of materials and inadequate attention to detailing.
Low-rise rubble masonry buildings were totally destroyed near to the epicentre, but some
survived (though badly damaged) when further away. These were also older forms of
construction. Cutstone masonry and more modern reinforced concrete framed buildings faired
much better, although damaged to varying extents. These later building types are largely built by
owner-occupiers and hence better care was taken in the materials used and their workmanship.
Many lessons can be learnt from those non-engineered low rise buildings which survived.
Large earthquakes can still cause damage to buildings even if designed to the relevant Indian
codes and this Guide. However, the seismic measures taken are intended to absorb damage in a
controllable way and save lives. They are not intended to ensure that a building always survives
intact. If seismic measures had been taken into account in the design of buildings the loss to life
would have been significantly reduced as many buildings would have not collapsed.
Damage to buildings were caused by a combination of affects:
Old decaying buildings predating modern construction practices
New Buildings not being designed to Indian earthquake codes
Lack of knowledge, understanding or training in the use of these codes by local engineers
Unawareness that Gujarat is a highly seismic region
Buildings erected without owners seeking proper engineering advice
Improper detailing of masonry and reinforced structures
Poor materials, construction and workmanship used, particularly in commercial buildings
Buildings having poor quality foundations or foundations built on poor soils
A majority of building structures in Gujarat can be divided into the following two broad
categories: (i) load bearing masonry and (ii) reinforced concrete frames with unreinforced
masonry infill walls.
Load bearing masonry:
A majority of buildings in the Kachchh region are built in unreinforced load bearing masonry. A
large number of such buildings also exist in areas outside Kachchh, including inurban centers
such as Ahmedabad. The types of masonry units used include (i) random rubble stones, (ii)
rough dressed stones, (iii) clay bricks, and (iv) solid or hollow concrete blocks. The units are
assembled with mud mortar, lime mortar, or cement mortar. The stone blocks used in load
bearing masonry are generally quite large, the commonly used dimensions being 400 mm by 600
mm by 225 mm thick. The roof structure consists of either Manglore clay tiles laid on timber
planks supported by purlins and rafters made from wooden logs or a reinforced concrete slab.
When the building has more than one storey, the floors and roofs are generally reinforced
concrete slabs.
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Figure 13: A village house in Kachchh; stone masonry with manglore roof
Source: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, EERI Web site at www.eeri.org.
Many buildings in Kutch of up to 2 storeys in height are made of random rubble masonry
construction. The 26 January 2001 earthquake caused massive damage to these buildings. A
great many partially or completely collapsed, especially close to the epicentre in Bhuj, Anjar,
Bachau and Sukhpur, where the destruction was almost total. Towns and villages that are further
from the epicentre of the earthquake were less affected but only in the sense that total collapse
was not as widespread. For example, near the villages of Kera or Naranpur buildings of this
nature were still standing with sometimes only partial collapse.
Figure 14: Destruction of heavy stone masonry walls that had no reinforcement and were not tied to each other
Source: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, EERI Web site at www.eeri.org.
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Figure 15: Partial collapse of gable wall for a single storey random masonry wall in kera
Source: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, EERI Web site at www.eeri.org.
During the earthquake, many buildings easily separated at corners and T-junctions resulting in
walls overturning and roofs collapsing, which killed thousands of people. This was because the
random rubble walls were made of uneven stone and the stones were laid on either weak soil or
mortar bedding. Under the heavy seismic shaking, the tensile strength of the mortar (and rubble)
was easily exceeded, and walls bulged or totally collapsed.
Figure 16: Heavily damaged single storey rubble masonry wall with concrete roof in Manukawa & Sukhpur.
Note: Walls survived due to diaphragm action from roof. Cantilever beams embedded in walls also helped this.
Note: window openings are also not close to corners.
Source: Beneficial effects of masonry infill walls on seismic performance of RC frame buildings. 12th World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Auckland, New Zealand, Paper No.1790.
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An old government building (predating 1900s) made with solid cut stone masonry walls is
shown in Figure 17. This building received slight to moderate damage although it is in the centre
of Bhuj and all around, rubble buildings have totally collapsed.
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Figure 18 shows a two-storey modern cut-stone wall building near Bhuj, in town called
Mirzapur.
The building has cut-stone walls about 0.225 to 0.3m thick and has a 1st level concrete floor and
a pitched timber roof. The window openings are not close to the edge and are also sensibly
spaced. This is probably one of the main reasons why it survived with so little damage. Even so
some vertical bending cracking has happened near to the corners, again due to out of plane shear
forces.
Many buildings which did not collapse suffered from severe diagonal cracking at their corners,
some with partial collapse at corners, primarily because of window openings being too close to
the corner and because of lack of toothing between returns.
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Figure 19 shows a building, which collapsed because part of the floor area was converted to an
opening for car parking. The building was subjected to torsion about its centre of rigidity and
failed because of soft storey behaviour with large deformations and rotations concentrated at the
top of the columns.
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Figure 20 shows a building where the owner had a middle floor supported on columns with large
internal open spaces, and hardly any masonry infill walls. Under seismic loading, large
deformations occurred at the top and bottom of the columns and a soft storey collapse occurred,
the upper floor storey falling onto the first storey. This shows that soft storey collapses do not
always occur at ground floor.
Often, the owner retained an local architect and sometimes a local structural engineers practice
to design the building. Even so, no buildings were designed for seismic shaking. If it were not for
buildings having non-structural infill wall panels many more
buildings might have experienced total collapse.
Seismic shear force and deformations would have been
concentrated at the column heads, causing soft storey
failures as occurred in many multi-storey structures with large
openings at ground level.
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A typical example of a framed building with open first storey is shown in Fig. 25, which shows
what was once a complex of four identical five-storey blocks. Each block had a reinforced
concrete frame construction with an open first storey and brick infill walls in upper storeys. Two
of the four blocks, which were located in the foreground of the picture, completely collapsed
killing several residents. The other two blocks that are seen standing in the picture suffered
severe damage. The owners have decided to pull them down. Temporary supports have been
provided to the buildings in their lowest storey so that the useful contents of the buildings could
be salvaged.
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Any number of examples can be cited of the damage suffered by the open first storeys in
multistory reinforced concrete buildings in Ahmedabad. A particularly tragic case was of a tenstorey building known as Shikhara. The building was in the shape of an H. It had been completed
only recently and was not fully occupied. One of the open arms of the H collapsed during the
earthquake causing the death of 89 persons. Details of the building are shown in Figs. 26 and 27.
The collapse was evidently caused by the failure of the columns in the open first storey. The
first-storey columns in parts of the building that remain standing are severely damaged. Attempts
have been made to repair these columns, as shown in Fig. 26, but the residents are unwilling to
return to the building.
The technique used for repairs to the columns of the first storey can be observed from Fig. 27.
The columns are being prepared for concrete jacketing. In the present case they have been
encased in four vertical angle sections, one at each corner. The angles are tied together by
welding horizontal steel bars. Forms will be erected around this assembly and concrete will be
poured from an open space at the top of the forms to complete the concrete jacket.
Figure 26: One wing of the Shikhara building detached itself from the building and collapsed.
Source : Gujarat Relief Engineering Advice Team (GREAT)
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Figure 27: Repairs to damaged columns in the first storey of the shikhra building
Source : Gujarat Relief Engineering Advice Team (GREAT)
Another large reinforced concrete frame building whose failure attracted much publicity was the
Mansi building located in downtown Ahmedabad. The building is 12 stories tall and consists of
two identical but separate blocks. A part of one of the two blocks completely collapsed killing
22 people. The open first-storey columns of the parts that remain standing are heavily damaged.
The building has been abandoned and its fate remains to be decided. Figures 28 and 29 show
some details of the damaged building. An observation of the remaining parts of this building
indicates that the most likely cause of the collapse was the soft first storey. The masonry infills in
the upper stories of the building make the building stiff, attracting significantly higher
earthquake forces. The high shears imposed on the first-storey columns have caused damage to
the visible hinge regions at the top of the columns, as well as shear failure in some of the
columns, as seen in Figure 29.
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Figure 28: The portion of the Mansi building that collapsed detached itself from the block seen in the
foreground; the other block in the background is still standing, but its first-storey columns are heavily damaged.
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Concrete frame buildings with open first storeys and masonry infill walls in the upper levels
located in the epicentral region of Bhuj, Anjar, and Gandhidham suffered a worst fate. First, the
ground motion was more intense in these areas; second, the infills were in most cases made with
heavier stone blocks rather than in clay bricks. Some examples of damaged or collapsed
buildings are shown in Figs. 3032. Figure 30 shows the collapsed open first storey of a four
storey concrete frame building in Bhuj in which the upper storeys have come down as a rigid
body. Figure 31 shows a similar building also in Bhuj. In this case the columns on one side of the
building failed and the building came down to rest on its side. Figure 32 shows some columns in
the first storey of a building in Anjar. The loss of concrete cover and the lack of sufficient hoop
reinforcement have caused the columns in the open storey to be severely damaged in the hinge
region.
Figure 30: The open first storey of this building in Bhuj was crushed bringing the upper three storeys down.
Figure 31: The columns on one edge of the open first storey of this building in Bhuj collapsed bringing the
building down on its side.
Source : Gujarat Relief Engineering Advice Team (GREAT)
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Figure 32: Failure of column through plastic hinging and buckling of longitudinal reinforcement due to loss of
concrete cover and insufficient hoop reinforcement.
Source : Gujarat Relief Engineering Advice Team (GREAT)
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The moment magnitude Mw 7.7 earthquake that struck the Kachchh region of the province of
Gujarat in India at 8:46 a.m. on 26 January 2001 caused tremendous loss of life and property.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 50 km northeast of the town of Bhuj. The
earthquake was felt over a large part of India, and while the greatest damage due to the
earthquake occurred in the region of Kachchh, many other parts of Gujarat, including the major
urban center of Ahmedabad, were quite severely affected. The official estimate of casualties is
20 000. The number of injured is reported to be 166 000. The earthquake caused extensive
ground movement, cracking, liquefaction, and lateral spreading in the region of Kachchh. About
370 000 houses and huts were completely destroyed, while another 931 000 were partially
destroyed. The total financial loss is estimated at $7.1 billion (around 379,850,000,000 Indian
rupees).
Important conclusions that can be drawn from the present survey can be summarized as follows:
1. There is a need for a study of the type of earthquakeresistant construction that would be
suitable for the rural areas and smaller urban centers of developing countries. Most of the
destruction caused by earthquake has taken place in such countries, and in the present age of
global interaction and global economy it is incumbent upon developed countries such as Canada
to undertake such a study.
2. The beneficial effect of masonry infill walls in reinforced concrete frames in resisting
earthquake forces was evident in the performance of various buildings during the Gujarat
earthquake. The infills prevented the collapse of many buildings even though such infills were
neither reinforced nor positively tied to the boundary elements. A comprehensive study is
required to assess the effectiveness of infill panels in providing resistance to earthquake forces.
3. Experience during the Gujarat earthquake has shown that building codes and standards should
form the basis of regulations governing building design, so that they have a legal standing.
Although India has a comprehensive set of codes and standards governing earthquakeresistant
design, they do not have a legal standing and are thus only advisory in nature. A consequence of
this was that the designers in Gujarat had little incentive to conform to the codes and standards,
and even the engineered buildings did not conform to the recommendations of the relevant codes
and standards.
4. The Gujarat earthquake reestablished the need for designing the lifeline structures and
essential facilities to ensure their survival during such events, so that the services necessary for
rescue and recovery are not adversely affected. Widespread failure of power in the district of
Kachchh was caused because a large number of control room buildings in the electric substations
collapsed, damaging the control equipment and batteries. A number of hospital buildings,
telephone exchange buildings, civil administration buildings, and water service buildings were
damaged or destroyed, seriously hampering the rescue and relief operations.
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The form of the building is simple geometric shape and symmetrical itself.
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The National Disaster Management Authority, in its recently released guidelines have made it
mandatory for all new constructions in Delhi and Mumbai to have earthquake-resistant
structures. Delhi falls in seismic zone IV, which makes it highly vulnerable to earthquakes.
While rajasthan comes under zone II and zone III.
India's increasing population and extensive unscientific constructions mushrooming all over,
including multistoried luxury apartments, huge factory buildings, gigantic malls, supermarkets as
well as warehouses and masonry buildings keep - India at high risk. During the last 15 years, the
country has experienced 10 major earthquakes that have resulted in over 20,000 deaths. As per
the current seismic zone map of the country (IS 1893: 2002), over 59 per cent of Indias land
area is under threat of moderate to severe seismic hazard.
The North-Eastern part of the country continues to experience moderate to large earthquakes at
frequent intervals including the two great earthquakes. Since 1950, the region has experienced
several moderate earthquakes. On an average, the region experiences an earthquake with a
magnitude greater than 6.0 every year.
Source The National Disaster Management Authority of India
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), updated the seismic hazard map of India in 2006. Apart
from the merging of Zones I and II, there are no major changes in the new hazard map with
respect to the state of Rajasthan, as compared with the previous 1984 BIS map.
Western parts of the districts of Barmer and Sirohi as well as northern sections of Alwar district
lie in Zone IV, where the maximum intensity could reach 8.0M. The remaining areas of Barmer
and Sirohi districts, as well as the districts of Bikaner, Jaiselmer and Sirohi lie in Zone III. The
north-eastern districts of Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Bharatpur and the rest of Alwar also lie in Zone III.
The maximum intensity expected in these areas would be around 7.0 M. The rest of the state,
including the capital, Jaipur, lie in Zone II, where the maximum intensity expected would be
around 6.0M .It must be noted that BIS estimates the hazard, based in part, on previous known
earthquakes. Since the earthquake database in India is still incomplete, especially with regards to
earthquakes prior to the historical period (before 1800 A.D.), these zones offer a rough guide of
the earthquake hazard in any particular region.
Source http://asc-india.org/seismi/seis-rajasthan.htm
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DESIGN OF STRUCTURES, The building should have a simple rectangular plan and be
symmetrical both with respect to mass and rigidity so that the centres of mass and rigidity of the
building coincide with each other in which case no separation sections other than expansion joints
are necessary.
If symmetry of the structure is not possible in plan, elevation or mass, provision shall be made for
torsional and other effects due to earthquake forces in the structural design or the parts of
different rigidities may be separated through crumple sections. The length of such building between
separation sections shall not preferably exceed three times the width.
Buildings having plans with shapes like, L, T, E and Y shall preferably be separated into rectangular
parts by providing separation sections at appropriate places.
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Separation of adjoining structures or parts of the same structure is required for structures having
different total heights or storey heights and different dynamic characteristics. This is to avoid
collision during an earthquake.
Figure 36: An irregular shape faces more torsion on the vertical section.
Source: Indian Standard CRITERIA FOR EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT DESIGN OF STRUCTURES
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Inferences
In the previous chapters we have seen that how earthquake attacks the buildings/structure
and also, we had studied about the buildings that resists these earthquake not completely but
partially.
Now we will study about the building forms, affects of earthquake forces and various properties
of building forms based on the earthquake building codes.
With the above study, it is concluded that earthquake behaves with some forces i.e.,
1. Elastic behavior, and
2. Non-elastic behavior
On buildings.
1. ELASTIC BEHAVIOUR:
Elastic earthquake behavior of buildings is primarily controlled by configuration and
Stiffness, out of the four virtues of configuration, stiffness, strength and ductility. All buildings
discussed in this Chapter are designed for full gravity load and lateral load equal to 10% of the
total building weight to illustrate various concepts of elastic behavior of buildings; the actual
design lateral force of similar buildings will depend on many factors, like seismic zone, and type
of framing system, as specified by the design codes. The total lateral force is distributed over the
building height and plan using provisions given in the Indian Seismic Code IS:1893 (Part 1)
2007.
Buildings oscillate during earthquake shaking and inertia forces are mobilized in them.
Then, these forces travel along different paths, called load paths, through different structural
elements, until they are finally transferred to the soil through the foundation. The generation of
forces based on basic oscillatory motion and final transfer of force through the foundation are
Significantly influenced by overall geometry of the building, which includes:
(a) plan shape, and
(b) Plan Aspect ratio.
Plan Shape: The influence of plan geometry of the building on its seismic performance is best
understood from the basic geometries of convex- and concave-type lenses (Figure 38). Buildings
with former plan shape have direct load paths for transferring seismic inertia forces to its base,
while those with latter plan shape necessitate indirect load paths that result in stress
concentrations at points where load paths bend. Buildings with convex and simple plan
geometries are preferred, because they demonstrate superior seismic performance than those with
concave and complex plan geometries.
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To illustrate the above concept, five-storey moment frame buildings with seven plan shapes
are considered; six of them have complex plan geometries and one has the simple rectangular
Geometry (Figure 3.1). Each building has a basic frame grid with columns spaced at 4m, i.e.,
each unit is of 16m2 area. The rectangular having plan dimensions of 12m16m, with 3 and 4
bays in the two perpendicular plan directions (Figure 3.2).
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Buildings with (a) simple shapes undergo simple acceptable structural seismic behaviour, while
(b) those with complex shapes undergo complex unacceptable structural seismic behavior.
Each building with complex shape is composed of the basic 3 bay by 4 bay rectangular modules with
column spacing of 4m in each plan direction.
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Rectangular (or square) columns are good in resisting shear and bending moment about
axes parallel to their sides. Thus, it is important to have buildings oscillating primarily along
their sides translation along diagonals or torsional motions are NOT good for seismic
performance of columns, and hence, of buildings (Figure 3.3). Further, in regular buildings, the
overall motion is controlled by the first few modes of oscillation; the fundamental mode
(corresponding to largest natural period) usually contributes maximum, followed by the 2nd
mode, 3rd mode, etc. Thus, it is desirable to have pure translation modes as the lower modes of
oscillation and push torsional and diagonal translational modes to the higher ranks. Primarily,
these undesirable (diagonal translation and torsional) modes arise when there is lack of
symmetry in the plan shape of buildings along the sides. It is important to have regular plan
shape of buildings.
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Six buildings, without any irregularity in mass or stiffness, but with complex shapes are
chosen to compare the effect of plan shape on elastic behavior of buildings 42. These
buildings have approximately the same plan area of about 2496m2.
Buildings with complex shapes, particularly with projections or re-entrant corners, exhibit
special modes of oscillation, in addition to translatory (pure or diagonal) or torsional modes.
These include an opening-closing mode, and the unique local-high-frequency oscillatory mode
like, that of the wagging of a dogs tail. Dog tail wagging mode of oscillation is interesting
because in this mode, only a slender or long projection oscillates and the remaining part of the
building almost remains still, just like the dogs body remains still when its tail wags. The effect
of these special modes of oscillation is to induce high stress concentration at the re-entrant
corners that may cause minimum structural damage.
Another common discontinuity in load path in moment frames arises with set-back columns,
i.e., when a column coming from top of the building is moved away from its original line, again
usually at the ground storey. In such cases, loads from the over hanging portions take detour and
cause severe stress concentration at the re-entrant corners while traveling to the nearest set-back
column. In addition, the set-back divides the span of beams into smaller segments, and thereby,
pushes these beams into shear action (as against flexural action; Figure 3.36). These beams then
draw large amount of shear force, and can fail in brittle shear mode. As a consequence, set-back
columns subjected to large axial force, become vulnerable to combined axial-moment-shear
failure.
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Non-uniform distribution of forces can cause localized failures in members thereby affecting the
structural integrity of the building.
(A)
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(B)
(C)
(D)
Figure 44: Buildings with lack of grid, showing BM distribution
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2. INELASTIC BEHAVIOUR
Some structural damage is allowed during strong earthquake shaking in normal buildings,
even though no collapse must be ensured. This implies that nonlinearity will arise in the overall
response of buildings, which originates from the material response being nonlinear. This
nonlinearity arising from the material stress-strain curve is called material nonlinearity. But,
sometimes, the stress-strain curve may be nonlinear and also elastic, whereby on unloading, the
material retraces the loading path. Structural steel has definite yield behavior and does not
retrace its loading path when unloaded after yielding. Such a response is more commonly
referred to as inelastic response. When an inelastic material is subjected to reversed cyclic
loading (of displacement type) which takes the material beyond yield, hysteresis takes place, i.e.,
the material under the applied loading absorbs/dissipates energy. Reinforced concrete and
structural steel are candidate materials for inelastic behavior. Under strong earthquake shaking,
normal reinforced concrete and steel buildings experience inelastic behavior.
Hence, with the help of above data and analysis it is noted that to design an earthquake resistant
structure, both the building form and structural details are to be considered in designing.
The four important properties of earthquake are to be considered:
1. Stiffness
2. Strength
3. deformation
4. energy based
Of the four methods of design, the deformation-based design method is the most advanced, and
is expected to give best earthquake performance. It requires more engineering experience and
judgment, but the results build more confidence in designers to arrive at a building that is more
likely to perform as intended. Therefore, this method is best suited for special buildings, where
earthquake performance of the building should be guaranteed, e.g., critical and lifeline buildings
that are required to remain functional after the earthquake.
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